Understanding Child Psychology and Counselling
If you’re considering seeking emotional support for your child, it can be incredibly difficult in discerning how to find the right practitioner. This can be likened to the similar confusion in how to distinguish between ophthalmologists, optometrists and opticians.
Overall, psychotherapy and counselling are overarching umbrella terms for numerous different approaches that usually describe a talking approach to supporting emotional difficulties. Within these umbrella terms are a number of different professionals who are likely to employ similar client-centred techniques of unconditional positive regard, warmth and empathy. Professionals’ titles will reflect differences in training and approach.
For example, some will refer more readily to ‘patients’ and others to ‘clients’. Those who refer to clients would be more likely to move away from a more medical model approach and via language be more empowering of their client's progress.
TYPES OF CHILD THERAPY
Briefly, psychiatrists are medical doctors who have specialised in mental health and are therefore trained to assess and, crucially, diagnose and if necessary prescribe and medicate patients.
If your child has experienced a sudden onset of difficulty, a clear deterioration, is exhibiting severity of being unwell including taking risks with their behaviour, not able to keep themselves safe, or has been suffering for some time, a psychiatrist may be your first point of contact, via your GP or as a self-referral. Psychiatrists will often recommend the use of talking approaches in conjunction with regular reviews.
Psychotherapists are likely to have a depth of training, often focused on children and adolescents and with a particular theoretical emphasis. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists are particularly informed by Freud and Kleinian ideas and use a variety of often, play-based approached to support children in emotional distress.
There’s often an intensity to this therapy which usually occurs once a week, but possibly more frequently. It’s often used where there’s been a difficult or traumatic experience or where children find it more difficult to use words to describe their internal world.
Child Psychotherapists can be trained in a wide variety of methods in supporting children and use a vast array of approaches such as Interpersonal Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy to look beneath the surface of behaviour and help to reduce distress.
Family Therapists are highly trained and support different family members, including children and young people, by considering carefully the role of the system or interactions between family members, and they can be incredibly insightful in considering difficult relationships that may impact the whole family.
Clinical Psychologists often have a research background and in understanding the theory and development of difficulties will closely consider the evidence base. In other words, Clinical Psychologists will look at what the evidence states in relation to a particular difficulty, if a young person is assessed as being in a low mood, the NICE guidance will suggest that Cognitive-behavioural Therapy or Interpersonal Therapy would be the best intervention to support this.
Confusingly, many Psychologists will describe themselves as ‘integrative’ using a number of approaches that overlap with Psychotherapists such as a Psychodynamic framework, Systemic approaches or Cognitive-analytic Therapy and many others. Many Psychologists and Psychotherapists will use a ‘biopsychosocial model’ in attempting to understand, make sense of and treat distress by considering all the Biological, Psychological and Social factors which have contributed to a child’s presenting picture.
Crucially, research states that the most important discerning factor is the Therapeutic Relationship (the chemistry between client and therapist). It makes total sense that those clients with the best outcomes and the biggest reduction in psychological distress view the relationship with their therapist most positively.
Whilst it may not be immediate, you can soon tell if your child feels safe, heard and valued with the therapist that they meet. This is a great start in beginning to tackle their difficulties and one of the best indicators that the therapist is a good ‘fit’ for your child.
Lastly, it’s vital to consider that since Psychotherapists and Psychologists are (surprisingly) not protected terms, it would be wise to double-check their credentials. Any reputable practitioner will be registered with a regulatory body such as:
Health Care Professions Council (HCPC)
The British Psychological Society (BPS)
The British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapists (BACP)
The Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP)
The Association of Clinical Psychologists (ACP-UK)
At The Soke, our Client Services Director, Isabelle Wood, is here to answer any questions that you may have about the specialist children & adolescent practitioners who work at our centre, so feel free to give her a call.
